A Sampling of This Year's Non-Fiction

I've been looking over some of the new non-fiction titles added to the collection this year. A dazzling array of books are published every year. I thought it might be interesting to list just a few of the titles we added in 2013. Clicking on any of the titles below should take you to the catalog to learn more about, or place holds on, any of these books (the back arrow should bring you back to this page).

1927 and 1933 each became the subject of a book:

One Summer: America, 1927 by Bill Bryson.

America 1933: The Great Depression, Lorena Hickok, Eleanor Roosevelt and the Shaping of the New Deal by Michael Golay.

The 150th anniversary of the battle of Gettysburg inspired many books this year. Two of them were:

Gettysburg: The Last Invasion by Allen C. Guelzo.

A Field Guide to Gettysburg: Experiencing the Battlefield through its History, Places, and People by Carol Reardon and Tom Vossler

The aftermath of the Civil War is reflected in:

The Lost Cause: The Trials of Frank and Jesse James

Current events in the Middle East inspired many titles. Two of them were:

To Be a Friend is Fatal: The Fight to Save the Iraqis America Left Behind by Kirk W Johnson

Under Fire: The Untold Story of the Attack in Benghazi by Fred Burton and Samuel M. Katz

A number of books dealt with issues in the medical, social, and psychological sciences:

To the End of June: The Intimate Life of American Foster Care by Cris Beam

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain

Quiet Kids: Help Your Introverted Child Succeed in and Extroverted World by Cristine Fonseca

The Sensory Child Gets Organized: Proven Systems for Rigid, Anxious, or Distracted Kids by Carolyn Dalgliesh

Raising a Self Reliant Child by Dr. Alanna Levine

The Cancer Chronicles: Unlocking Medicine's Deepest Mystery by George Johnson

Do You Believe in Magic? The Sense and Nonsense of Alternative Medicine by Paul A. Offit

Lean In: Women Work, and the will to lead by Sheryl Sandberg

The New Soft War on Women: How the Myth of Female Ascendance is Hurting Women, Men - and our Economy by Caryl Rivers

Wonder Women: Sex, Power, and the Quest for Perfection by Debora L. Spar

There were, as always, a wealth of biographies and autobiographies:

My Brief History by Stephen Hawking

Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age by W. Bernard Carlson

Jim Henson by Brian Jay Jones

Manson by Jeff Guinn

Nicholson by Marc Eliot

Kentucky Traveler by Ricky Skaggs

One of the cleverer titles of the year:

The Audacity of Hops: The History of America's Craft Beer Revolution by Tom Acitelli

And last, but not least, one of my favorite subjects:

Betty Crocker's the Big Book of Pies and Tarts by Betty Crocker

Weight Watchers 50th Anniversary Cookbook

Sweet Debbie's Organic Treats: Allergy-Free & Vegan Recipes from the Famous Los Angeles Bakery

I hope that there is something here for almost anyone to enjoy.

Chuck

Audio Addiction

I don’t miss the wear and tear on my car or the amount of gas I used during my several year stint at IUPUI.  However, I do miss being able to count on that commute time for “reading”.  And when I say “reading” I mean listening, to audio books.  We’ll save the debate on listening versus reading for another day.  Today I want to talk about how awesome audio books are!

Let me start with my early audio book experiences.  The first few were less than awesome.  I can remember my mom trying to stick in an audio book for the whole family on more than one road trip.  The horror!  The earsplitting narrator!  The something!  It never worked out for us.  We’d listen for a few minutes then begin ridiculing mom’s choice and/or just plain talking over the story.  I don’t know if what was to blame for these failed attempts at audio book enjoyment.  Regardless of why, they were failures.  At least she tried.

Lucky for me I tried audio books again later in life.  I’m not sure why I tried again.  Maybe I was feeling guilty about how little I was reading.  Maybe I wondered what the hype was all about, I saw them being checked in an out constantly.  Maybe I was just bored with the radio.  Okay that last one probably wasn’t it, I LOVE to sing.  I’m really bad at it but I really love it.  I digress…

My first leap back into audio books was a success.  Thank you, Chelsea Handler.  Yup, the wise cracking, foul mouthed, blond from Chelsea Lately showed me just how fabulous an audio book can be.  My first audio book was her Are You There Vodka?  It’s me,Chelsea.  It’s read by the author and it is absolutely hilarious.  I am the kind of person who is always, always, always late but not while I was reading this.  I couldn’t wait to get back in the car and hear another wild tale of wayward life!  Sadly, I finished that first successful audio shortly after I started it.  

 The good news is that I was sold on the value of a good audio book.  In those early audio book days I was extremely picky about the narrator, the subject and the length of the story.  I still consider all those things when I select one but I have broadened my horizons somewhat.  I do have favorites when it comes to narrators.  If Nick Podehl is narrating, I’m sold!  And I’ve found that many things I wouldn’t typically read in a more traditional format I really enjoy as an audio book.  Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld isn’t something you’d likely see me cozied up on the couch with but the audio book was amazing.  The duel voices of the characters, the sound effects, the whole experience was something I don’t know I would have enjoyed nearly as much just by turning the pages.

I won’t bore you with a list of all the titles I’ve enjoyed since Chelsea.  Just as my mom should have known, audio books aren’t one size fits all.  But once you find one you really enjoy I’m sure you’ll be just as hooked as I am.

The 2013 Review!

Can you believe it's almost the end of the year?!  It doesn't seem like it but another year has come and gone.  Do you remember some of the things we did this year?

The Game Truck came for Teen Tech Week in March.

Bookmaking Workshop over Spring Break.

Fairy Houses during Summer Reading.

Morgan celebrated her fourth birthday!

A visit from Stick Dog author Tom Watson.

WonderLab!

Learning all about worms!

 

What is your favorite library memory from 2013? 

Looking forward to a new year and new fun,
Alyssa

Best of 2013

It's that time of year again....no, not the holidays, but the time when all of the "Best of 2013" lists start to come out.  They used to wait until  after New Year's Day, but I think they've moved it up so that you have handy gift buying guides for last minute Christmas shopping.  I've compiled several of the Best Books of the Year lists for your convenience:

For professional reviewers, try Publisher's Weekly Best Books, or the New York Times' list of 100 notable fiction, poetry and nonfiction as selected by the editors of The New York Times Book Review.  


The Goodreads Choice Awards are the only major book awards decided by readers instead of professional reveiwers. 
 
If you want to base your selections strictly on sales, go to Amazon.com's Best Sellers of 2013 (so far).

The book editors of the Huffington Post listed the books that are not necessarily considered the 'best', but simply the ones they enjoyed reading the most.

If you're looking for something out of the mainstream, Slate has a list of the Most Overlooked Fiction of the year.  They have several other lists, too, including their favorites, editors' picks and best lines of the year. 

I hoped I would find a few books that were clear standouts, and  as luck would have it, there were two books that appeared on multiple lists. Click on the titles to check their availability or to place a hold.

The Circle by Dave Eggers
When Mae Holland is hired to work for the Circle, the world's most powerful internet company, she feels she's been given the opportunity of a lifetime. Run out of a sprawling California campus, the company links users' personal emails, social media, banking, and purchasing with their universal operating system, resulting in one online identity and a new age of civility and transparency. As Mae tours the open-plan office spaces, the towering glass dining facilities, the cozy dorms for those who spend nights at work, she is thrilled with the company's modernity and activity. There are parties that last through the night, there are famous musicians playing on the lawn, there are athletic activities and clubs and brunches, and even an aquarium of rare fish retrieved from the Marianas Trench by the CEO. Mae can't believe her luck, her great fortune to work for the most influential company in the world, even as life beyond the campus grows distant, even as a strange encounter with a colleague leaves her shaken, even as her role at the Circle becomes increasingly public. What begins as the captivating story of one woman's ambition and idealism soon becomes a heart-racing novel of suspense, raising questions about memory, history, privacy, democracy, and the limits of human knowledge.

Going Clear:  Scientology. Hollywood & the Prison of Belief by Lawrence Wright
Wright’s prodigiously researched investigation of Scientology does what good reporting ought to do: examine something in search of truth, lay out the findings, and let conclusions be drawn. In this painstaking work, the author bravely confronts the lawyered-up and controversial church in a dramatic encounter woven right into the narrative. New Yorker staff writer and Pulitzer Prize–winner Wright offers a reality test about a set of beliefs and behaviors that constitute this formidable 20th-century religious movement.